Where is the best place to put solar panels in your neighborhood?
The solar opportunity map is a web tool built to assist community-based organizations to access data necessary to identify high potential sites for community solar or resiliency centers within LA County.
The California Center for Sustainable Communities at UCLA is developing this tool as an interactive, web-based platform to help locate, filter, and prioritize sites on publicly-owned properties throughout Los Angeles county that are good candidates to host rooftop and/or carport canopy solar PV systems. Installing additional distributed solar PV can help improve local energy system resilience, advance community-scale Zero Net Energy goals, and enhance grid reliability.
Community solar enables renters, as well as homeowners who are unable to install solar, to purchase power generated by local PV systems, helping to overcome some of the barriers to under-served communities benefiting from the clean energy transition. Resiliency centers serve community members during grid outages by providing cool (or warm) spaces, charging points for critical electronics, wifi connectivity, and other resources. Our aim is to support community-based organizations and local governments accelerate their planning and implementation efforts to bring community solar and resiliency centers to their constituents.
The development of this tool is guided by our project partners, listed below, who are evaluating the beta version of the map to provide input on their priorities and goals for the energy transition.
- Liberty Hill Foundation
- Asian Pacific Islander Forward Movement
- Active San Gabriel Valley
- East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice
- Pacoima Beautiful
- Redeemer Community Partnership
- Social Justice Learning Institute
- TRUST South LA (Tenemos Que Reclamar Y Unidos Salvar La Tierra)
Community Solar Opportunities is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment — particularly in disadvantaged communities.
Issuing Entity: Strategic Growth Council
Project Start Date: October 2018
